“When we talk in Urdu, there’s a specific pronunciation. When I tried to speak English words, I’d forget the English sounds and say them in a very Indian accent.”
Zaina Khader often missed half the school year to visit her family in India. She was born in the US, but both of her parents immigrated from India. During her frequent trips there, her grandparents and cousins encouraged her to explore their mother languages until she could speak both Urdu and Hindi fluently.
“I started off learning Urdu with small words, like water. Water is bonni. If I wanted water, I’d say, ‘I want bonni’,” Zaina said. “It started with little things like that, then my grandparents would encourage me so much to do it that it became a fluid thing.”
Alongside Urdu and Hindi, Zaina also began learning Arabic at a young age. Religiously, she is Muslim, and began studying the Quran (which is written fully in Arabic) from a very young age.
“My mom taught me at first, and then she kind of got tired, so she would hire mulisaabs, who are people who either have the whole Quran memorized, or are just really good at teaching it to kids. I would have one every other day, or sometimes every day, tutor me. Even in India, when I visited, I’d have a mulisaab there as well. Now, if you were to hand me a book in Arabic, I’d be able to read it to you.”
But having foundations in four different languages as a child was no especially easy task — coming into 2nd grade, Zaina took speech classes to refresh her skills in English after returning from months-long stays in India, during which she was fully immersed in Urdu, Hindi, and was studying Arabic, leaving her little opportunity to practice English.
“I did speech lessons because when I tried to speak I would mix up my words a little between languages,” Zaina said. “After I got older and was able to separate them from each other, I mostly just associated English with school. But when I speak Urdu or Hindi, I think of my family. I especially think of India, and the specific little nooks of little shops and the candy stores. I also think of the food. Overall, they remind me of the culture itself.”
Currently, Zaina volunteers at a hospital, where she’s found it easier to connect with patients who speak the same languages as she does. Sometimes, the staff will inform her of a new patient who only knows how to speak Urdu or Hindi and ask her to speak with them.
“I’m always happy to help out. I come over and we’ll start talking in Urdu, and it’s nice, because I feel like I’m at home, and I feel a little calmer.” Zaina said. “It’s the same anytime another Muslim person comes in, too. They see I’m wearing a scarf, and it’s something psychological where you can connect right away and feel at ease.”
Aside from making new connections, speaking these languages also helps Zaina connect with extended family back in India. She hasn’t gone to visit since 2015, so strengthening her bonds is all the more important.
“I’ve noticed in the case of my younger brother that he can’t really talk to our older relatives, because they don’t know English. So it’s kind of nice when they look at me and say, ‘Wow, you’re such a good kid, you know your mother language!” Zaina said. “In our culture, if you don’t know your language, and you forget your roots, they’re kind of like, ‘What are you doing here? America is doing too much to you.”
